Connector for ceiling or wall mounted lamps



May 27, 1958 E. PAOLINELLI 2,836,646

CONNECTOR FOR CEILING 0R WALL MOUNTED LAMPS Filed Sept. 4, 11.956 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN V EN TOR.

May 27, 1958 E. PAOLINELLI CONNECTOR FOR CEILING OR WALL MOUNTED LAMPS Filed Sept. 4, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. EHO pqoli l lli Ma /Jan United States Patent O CONNECTOR FOR CEILING OR WALL MOUNTED LAMPS Elio Paolinelli, Milan, Italy Application September 4, 1956, Serial No. 607,886

Claims priority, application Italy September 21, 1955 1 Claim. (Cl. 174-61) structure mechanically secured to the desired ceiling or wall portion and for having the electrical supply circuits connected. The various features and advantages of the invention, which are hereinafter set forth, will be best understood upon a summarized preliminary consideration of the means and the modes heretofore known in the art to which this invention appertains and which are made use of for suspending from a ceiling or on a wall lamps and other electric lighting fixtures, in particular in modern styled rooms, wherein the electric wiring is encased and concealed behind the ceiling and wall surfaces.

Up to now, during the planning of the electrical installation of a room, the position or the various positions wherein ceiling and/0r wall mounted lighting fixtures are to be supported and secured are preliminarily selected. The necessary feeding lines, properly protected by insulating means, are positioned to reach said positions and are covered by the outer plastering of the inner surfaces of the room, except where the end portions of said lines project from said surfaces. Nearby said positions iron hooks are fitted and plastered in the ceiling or wall for suspension of the lighting fixture. For mounting wall pin-up lamps, wooden blocks are often encased and plastered in the wall and the lamps are hung and secured by means of nails or wood screws driven into the block. Other means have been proposed for securing wall lamps to the walls, say expanding tubular lead or rubber plugs, and the like.

Known means designed for suspension of such lighting fixtures are adapted for mechanical connection and suspension only, and the installation of such fixtures requires both hooking the structure to be suspended to the said hook means and then connecting the electrical wiring. Said connecting includes properly and tightly twisting the end portions of the stripped ends of the insulated wires about each other and then the correct use of insulating tape. In general, any installation of ceiling or wall fixtures requires to be performed by a skilled workman and is pretty costly in materials and wages. Further, better than average workmanship is, often required for having a' neat appearance in thearrangement and installation of the .drop chain or rod of a ceiling lamp or' of the supporting wall plate of a wall lamp, on the ceiling or respectively on the wall, in particular where the lighting fixture is small and the space into which the wire connections are to be laid and concealed is very limited.

.Still' further, currently produced and installed ceiling or wall lighting fixtures arenot supposed to be removed from their position after being installed because any removal necessarily includes disconnecting the wires and detaching the fixture from its supporting or-securing.

means. That is a serious objection to known types of installations, because it is a limitation for example to full and proper cleaning of the lighting fixture, or to transferring the fixture from a room to another, when desired, and because the above described conventional system and means of installation prevents or at least makes very difficult any removal of the lamp, as it may often be desirable.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a new and useful connector device including a first member adapted to be fitted and plastered in the ceiling or in the wall at the position at which the lighting fixture is desired to be mounted, a second member adapted to be firmly secured to said fixture at that end thereof which is designed to be connected to said ceiling or wall, first and second co-operating hook means in the said first and respectively in the said second member and adapted to detachably secure said second member to said first member, and first and second electrical contact means in the said first and respectively in the said second member, adapted to be firmly electrically connected to the wires in the said ceiling or wall and respectively to the wiring of the lighting fixture and to co-operate for electrical connection of said wires to said wiring as said first and second hook means co-operate for securing said second member to said first member.

In particular, by constructing the said first and second members of the connector according to the invention in a standardized style, the invention itself provides a new and useful system of completing the electric installation for lighting requirements of rooms and the like, wherein the various positions at which the lamps are desired to be mounted may be provided with plastered-in standard designed first members of the device, while the structures of the various lamps may be provided with standard designed second members of the connectors. Any desired one of the lamps provided as above might therefore be promptly and readily mounted and operated at any desired position wherein one of said first members has been installed, by simple connection of the said second member to the said first member.

Another object of this invention is to provide a new and useful connector means as above, wherein the said first member thereof consists in a receptable element adapted to be plastered in the ceiling or in the wall, having a front opening adapted to be set in flush with the said ceiling or wall surface, and wherein the said second member thereof consists in aplug element having a shaped portion adapted to pass through said front opening and to be locked within said receptacle, the said first and second electrical contact means being positioned and arranged for relative electrical connection as the said plug element is set in locked relationship with and into the said receptacle element. I a

A further specific object of this invention is to provide, in a connector device including the above features, a front opening in the said receptacle element, said opening having a central open portion and a plurality of passageways radially extending from said central portion, with spacing portions of material therebetween and, in the said plug element, a central body adapted to pass through the said central open portion and a plurality of arm portions radially extending from said central body and made integr-al therewith, adapted to pass through the said passageways when the said plug element is positioned in one given angular relationship with respectto said receptacle e'le ment, the said receptacle element being further. provided with an inner space wherein the said central body and the said arm portions integral therewith may be rotated about the axis of same plug element until juxtaposition of the'said arm portions with the said spacing portions, so that the said plug element is caused to be locked within the said inner space and therefore the lighting fixture, secured to the said plug element, is caused to be firmly connected to the said ceiling or wall, wherein the said receptacle element has been plastered in. g 7

Another specific object of this invention is to provide, in a connector including the combination of the above described receptacle and plug elements, first and second electrical contact means positioned on the faces of said spacing portions and respectively of said arm portions, and arranged to be brought in abutting relationship as the said portions are set in the said juxtaposed relationship, so that the circuit feeding the lighting fixture is caused to be completed as soon as the said receptacle and plug elements are placed in their inter-locked relationship.

Another specific object of this invention is to provide, in a receptacle element of the connector as above, the combination of a box-shaped member having a front opening and a side opening, adapted to be plastered in the ceiling or in the wall and therein positioned to have its said front opening flush with the said ceiling or wall surface and to pass the wires through said side opening, and of a receptacle body member of insulating material, having a front portion having a front face and including the said central open portion and the said radial passageways, and adapted to be located in the said boxshaped member and positioned therein for having the said front face flush with the ceiling or wall surface, securing means being further provided to detachably secure the said receptacle body member in the said box-shaped member in the described relative location;

Another object of this invention is to provide, in a connector including the above features, first and second electrical contact means consisting of metallic tubular socket elements embedded in the said spacing portions and respectively of metallic pin members adapted for frictional insertion inside the said metallic socket members.

A further object of this invention is to provide a new and useful connector device including the above features and wherein the said receptacle and plug elements and the said first and second electrical contact means are arranged for having the said second member of the connector secured to the said first member thereof by an operation consisting firstly in an axial insertion of the plug element in the receptacle element, after previously orienting same in a predetermined angular relationship, then in a rotation of said plug element in the said receptacle element, until the second electrical contact means are set in co-axial relationship with the said first electrical contact means, and lastly in an axial back movement for having the said second electrical contact means frictionally inserted in the said first electrical contact means. o

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description progresses and more particularly defined by the claim at the conclusion thereof. The invention will be best understood from a consideration of the following detailed description of a preferred form of embodiment thereof, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming an essential component of this specification, with the understanding, however, that the invention is not confined to any strict conformity with .the showing of the drawings but may be changed or modified so long as such changes or modifications mark no material departure from the salient features of the invention as expressed in the appended claim.

In the drawings:

Figure 3 is partly a view from below and partly a sectional view taken in the direction and respectively in the horizontal plane indicated by 3-3 in Fig. 1;

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view corresponding to the one of Fig. 1, but wherein the parts of the connector are shown prior to the last step of operation of frictional insertion of the electrical contact means;

Figure 5 is an exploded view of the same form of embodiment of the invention, wherein the several components and members thereof are sectionally shown as in Fig. 1;

Figures 6 and 7 are partly sectional horizontal views and partly plan view from above, the section being taken Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of the said prein the planes and respectively in the directions indicated by 6-6-6 and respectively by 7-7-7 in Fig. 5, of the receptacle element and respectively of the plug element of the connector of the preceeding figures;

Figure 8 is a side elevational view of a complementary protective element designed for protection of the inside of the said receptacle element when the said plug element is removed, and

Figure 9 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of said receptacle element but in the lower portion thereof, shown in same radial planes and directions as Fig. 1, and provided with the complementary protective element shown in Fig. 8.

In the drawings, like numeral characters refer to like parts, elements and members throughout the several figures; as this description proceeds and in the appended claims the expression wall will be intended to indicate in its broadest meaning any side or upper wall structures to which the device of the invention might usefully be connected and applied, and therefore, while the said device is shown as installed into a ceiling, i. e. into an upper or top wall portion of a room, the said wall may be as well considered a side wall, which may be easily visualized by rotating through the elements shown in the drawings.

Referring now to the drawings;

The first part of the connector (designed to be firmly secured to and plastered in the wall) includes a receptacle element 10 of electrically insulating material and adapted to be secured inside a box-shaped member 11, say of metallic sheet material, designed to be plastered in the plaster 12 of the wall, flush with the surface thereof. Such box-shaped member 11 is substantially constructed and installed as a conventional receptacle of a plasteredin wall switch or the like, and it is provided with a conventional lateral opening wherein a conventional protection tubing 13 ends, for passage and protection of the feeding electrical wires, diagrammatically shown with dotand-dash lines 14 in Fig. l.

The said receptacle element 10 is provided with an outer flange portion 15 forming a rim 16 at the edge thereof, adapted to fit inside the opening 17 (Fig. 5) of the box-shaped member 11. A plurality of inwardly extruded projections 18 provided in the wall of said member 11 serves to support and stop from above said rim 16 for setting the receptacle element in the desired position thereof inside the said box-shaped member 11, so that the outer surface of said flange portion 15 is arranged substantially flush with the edge 19 of said box member and with the surface of wall 12. An interrupted resilient metallic securing ring 20 is provided for securing the receptacle element in the box-shaped member and an annular groove 21 (Fig. 5) is provided in the said edge 19 of the latter member to form a seat for said securing ring 20. a I

The receptacle member 10 is centered in its co-axial relationship in said box-shaped member 11 by a plurality of radially projecting rib portions 22 extending longitudinally along its outer surface, each one of said ribs 22 corresponding to one of said extruded projections 18 of the member 11. Still further, one rib 22a is provided with a groove 23 and outwardly extended to embrace one of the said projections 18 for preventing the rotation of the receptacle element in the box-shaped member.

The said flange portion 15 of the receptacle element is provided with a shaped passage for insertion of a plug element, which will be fully described below. Said shaped passage includes a central open round portion 24 (see in particular Fig. 6) and a plurality, say four radial passageways 25 extending therefrom. One passageway 25a of said passageways is shaped differently than the other ones, say by providing the same with a rounded end portion. The said passageways define spacing portions 26 of said flange portion therebetween.

The first electrical contact means are arranged in and supported by the said spacing portions 26. Said contact means include metallic sleeves or tubular metallic socket members 27 embedded in the insulating material of the receptacle element 16 and electrically connected, through conductors 28 also embedded in said material, to terminals 29 adapted for connection with the end portions of the lighting feeding wires 14 passing through the said tubing 13. The said terminals 29 are supported by a cover plate 30 covering the face of the receptacle element, opposite to the flange portion thereof.

The said receptacle element It! is further provided with shoulders 31 extending substantially in radial direction from the inner surface of the wall portion and designed to limit the angular movements of the plug element inserted thereinto.

The plug element (see in particular Fig. 7) is constructed in form of a shaped body generally indicated by 32, of insulating material and including a central portion 33 dimensioned for free passage through the said central open portion 24 of receptacle element 10 and a plurality of arm portions 34 extending therefrom, the said arm portions 34 being of such number, shape and dimension for free but precise passage of each arm portion through one radial pasageway 25 of the receptacle element. One radial portion 34a of said radial portions is shaped to pass through the one differently shaped passageway 25a of the receptacle, so that the said plug element may be axially inserted inside the receptacle element but in one predetermined angular relationship, whereinthe arm portion 34a is in line with passageway 25a. This ensures the establishment of a predetermined connection between the various feed wires and the fixture wiring.

The second electrical contact means are arranged on and supported by the said arm portions of the plug element. Such contact means are constructed in form of metallic pins or plugs 35 designed and arranged for frictional fit inside the said metallic sleeves or tubular socket member 27 and electrically connected to terminals 36 designed for securing and electrically connecting to said contact means the end portions of the internal wiring of the lighting fixture (not shown).

The said plug element is further provided with means for supporting said fixture. In the embodiment shown, the plug is secured to the upper end portion 37 of a con ventional suspension tubular rod, or to a drop chain or other suspension means adapted to support the lighting fixture hanging from the ceiling. Such suspension rod, provided with an externally screw-threaded part 38 (Fig. 5), may be tightly fitted into a cylindrical axial passage 39 (Fig. 5) provided in the plug element and may be secured therein say by means of a pair of oppositely located nut means 40 and 41. Preferably, the said axial passage 39 is formed coaxially in a sleeve member 42 of resilient material, say of natural or synthetic rubber, tightly arranged in the insulating material forming the body of said plug element.

The provision of said resilient sleeve 42 arranged between the suspension rod 37 of the lighting fixture and the rigid body of the plug element has been proven very advantageous for preventing breaking or other damage of the various rigid parts of the connector as the lighting fixture may be caused to oscillate, say during cleaning operations, or other, because the resiliency of the said sleeve allows the fixture to tilt to a certain extent, without subjecting the connectors components to mechanical stresses which might jeopardize its structural and/or electrically conductive parts.

The installation may be completed by the provision of a conventionally constructed and arranged cup-shaped cover means 43, adapted to hide from below the connector appearing on the surface of the wall and provided with a conventional collar 44 permitting passage of the suspension rod and with a conventional set screw 45 designed for securing the said cover means at any desired location along said rod.

From the above and in consideration of the showing of the accompanying drawings, the following procedure of installation and of utilization of the invention may be readily understood by those skilled in the art. The boxshaped member 11 is located and plastered in the wall, at the position wherein a lighting fixture is intended to be secured to the wall, and the electric wires 14 are conventionally located in tubing hidden beneath the wall surface as far as to the interior of said box-shaped member 11, wherein a few inches of said wires are left loose. The end portions of said wires are firmly connected to the proper terminals 29 of the receptacle element which is then inserted in the box-shaped member and secured thereinto by making use of the elastic ring 20. The first member of the connector according to the invention is therefore installed ready for utilization.

The plug element is separately secured to the end portion 37 of the suspension rod or drop chain of the lighting fixture (not shown) of the desired type and pattern, and the end portions of the Wiring of said fixture are properly secured to the terminals 36 of said plug element. It receptacle and plug elements are of standardized construction, any lighting fixture provided with and secured to a standard plug element, may be secured and connected to whatever installed standard receptacle element according to the invention, due to being adapted to co-operate with any one of said standard plug elements.

The installation of the lighting fixture requires therefore the one simple operation comprising the steps of axially inserting the plug element in the receptacle element, of rotating said plug element until the arm portions 34 abut against said shoulders 31 and therefore the electrical contact means thereof are aligned with the electrical contact means of the receptacle (Fig. 4), and of moving the said plug element outwardly into complete frictional engagement of said contact means, whereby the lighting fixture is both mechanically secured to the Wall and electrically connected to the source of electrical power.

The use of a cover means 43 of the type shown in Figs. 1, 4 and 5 is of particular interest in the case of installing a wall supported lighting fixture, wherein the rod 37 acts as a brace for supporting the structure extending horizontally from a vertical wall surface. In such case, the said cover means may be moved along and secured to said rod 37 in abutting relationship with the wall surface, so that the plug element is prevented from moving back and the electrical contact means are therefore prevented from disengaging from each other.

In the case that temporarily the first member of the connector is not being used, i. e. in the case that no lighting fixture has been installed at a location wherein an already installed first portion of the connector is ready for such application, a complementary closure means as shown in Figs. 8 and 9 may be advantageously made use of. Such complementary closure means consists in a disk-shaped member 46 of insulating material, dimensioned to extend over the edge 19 of the box-shaped member 11 and therefore to fully cover and protect the opening in the flange portion 15 and the first electrical contact means supported thereby, and having a pair of pin-shaped extensions 47 made integral therewith and 7 adapted for frictional insertion, from below, into "the tubular-electrical contact members 27oftl1e receptacle element, as shown in Fig. 9. Such complementary closure me'ans'may be provided with ornamentations on its-external surface, as desired.

From the above it will be readily understood that l haveldevised a new and highly advantageous connector means which might make easy, fast and safe the operationof installing lighting fixtures to ceilings and to walls in general, and that such connector may malce possible the easy detachment of such fixtures from the ceiling or 'wall,isay for repairing same, .for fully cleaning it and further for ready substitution. By the provision of a number of thirst members of the connector at various locationsofalroomor.of a building,-one or more lighting fixtures mayibe readily installed alternately at any desired GIIBJOffSllCh locations, by performing very easy operations whidhrnig'htzbeproperlycompared to the step of inserti'on-ofn conventional electric'plug into a socket.

Furthenit will be readily understood that a connector device of thetwge shown might be usefully made use of for securing to ceilings or walls electrical appliances other than lighting'fixtures, say an electric fan, ,or an electriclheater, or other appliances the detachable application of whichio .aJceiling or to a wall may be desired. Obviously, the installation of such other appliances may alternate with the .installation'of a lighting fixture or of a still diflferent appliance, provided that standardized first and second members of the connector according to the invention .are used.

Still further, while the connector according to the invention has been described and shown in the accompanying drawings as provided with four radial passageways and four corresponding radial :portions in the receptacle element and respectively in the plug element thereof, the number of such partsmay be difierent from four, depending upon particular requirements of installation. Such number of four has been proven, however, to be very satisfactory both in view of the safe mechanical con nection .of the .twomernbers of the device, and in view of .the automatic completion of the required electric circuits. Thefac that four first and four ctr-operating second electrical contact means are at disposal (a part of which may be made use of, in case of simplest twoway circuits) allows the feeding and the control for example of lighting fixtures of the type comprising two lamps ortwo groups of lamps, which may be switched on either alternately .or simultaneously by utilizing a threeway circuit, and the grounding of the lighting fixture or other appliance 'by utilizing the fourth connection at disposal.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the :gist of the present invention that others can, by application of current knowledge, readily adapt it for various applications of wall or ceiling mounted electric appliances of the type considered, without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific asspects of this invention and, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to he comprehended within the meaning andrange .of equivalents :of what :is defined in and by the appended claim.

Having thus described the invention both in its construction'andin Fits mode ofmaking use thereof what'l claim as new and desire to have protected by Letters Patent is:

In 'a'connector device for detachably securing an electric lighting fixture including a suspension rod, to a wall surface at a location-where end portions of installedwires are available for connection, .in combination, a boxshaped member having a front open face and an edge thereabout formed with aninwardly open groove therein, and a side passage for introducing said wire end portions into said box-shaped member, and being adapted to be secured to by plastering in said Wall so as to have said edge flush with said surface; a receptacle member of insulating material, having a front face portion and a rear face portion defining a cavity therebetween, and being adapted to be inserted into said box-shaped memher and to be secured therein with its said front face portion flush with-said edges; a resiliently expanding securing ring adapted to'be inserted into said groove and to secure said receptacle member in said box-shaped memher; said receptacle member having a shaped opening in said front face portion which opening includes a center round portion and four radial passageways extending therefrom and evenly spaced thereabout so as to define in said front face portion spacing portions therebetween; first metallic sleeve shaped electrical contact means arranged in and supported by said spacing portions and electrically connected to terminals located on and supported by said rear face portion of said receptacle member for connection to said wire end portions; a plug member of insulating material, including a center round portion and four arm portions made integral therewith and radially extending therefrom, shaped to pass through said center portion of said shaped opening and said radial passageways, said plug member being further dimensioned for rotation inside said cavity of said receptacle memher into an angularly turned position wherein said arm portions abut from inside against said spacing portions, for locking said plug member in said receptacle member; second metallic pin shaped electrical contact means arranged on and supported by said arm portions, adapted to frictionally engage internally said first sleeve contact means and electrically connected to terminals supported by said plug member for connections with the inner wiring of said fixture; a-tubular member of resilient material fitted in the center of said plug member and having an axial bore adapted to accommodate the end portion of said suspension rod; and means for firmly securing the latter end portion in said resilient tubular member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,509,839 Kuhn Sept. 30, 1924 

